In article <199404291330.GAA28644 at net.bio.net>, SCHLOSSER at ciit.org (Paul Schlosser) writes:
>sjeffrey.mskcc.org at net.bio.net (Sue Jeffrey) writes:
Fish can
>>survive with less frequent water changes but is all there is to life
>>just survival?
>>Sue Jeffrey
>>What do I know, I'm only a tech!
>My experience has simply been that the water remains clear w/ minimal
>odor for a year w/ only weekly filter changes, and that the fish seem
>happy. Also, the changing of water seems to traumatize (scare the h___
>out of) the fish, and tropicals especially seem susceptable to shocks.
> I *did* exchange 5-10% every 2-4 weeks myself (it's been a little while
since I've had my aquarium"up"), but my main point was that it shouldn't
be necessary to *completely* change the water more than 1/year.
As one of the previous posters to this thread reminded - changing
the water depends on the fish density, and on the degree with which one
may "overfeed" their fish. The detritis/fecal material collects in the
gravel and will facilitate an anaerobic environment. What may help the
water quality is an "undergravel filter" which essentially keeps the gravel
bed off the bottom so water can circulate through the gravel and up one or
more "airlift" tubes. I used to raise African cichlids which are a hardy
and aggressive fish, and found no problem breeding several different types
in the same tank. But I would never consider starting a tank without an
undergravel filter!
>All this talk makes me want to get the tank going again.
>>Paul
Likewise, now where would I put a 50 gal. tank?................
Regards, Peter
*************************************************************************
* Peter M. Muriana, Ph.D. Phone = (317)-494-8284 *
* Dept. of Food Science FAX = (317)-494-7953 *
* Purdue University E-mail = muriana at aclcb.purdue.edu *
* W. Lafayette, IN 47907 *
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